Gateway Trust listens to 1,000 voices in community survey

Over the 2017 summer, more than 730 people across the Gloucestershire Gateway Trust’s main communities took the time to answer a series of questions put to them by our dedicated roving survey team. In addition, more than 300 customers at the Gloucester Services were also quizzed.

Adults and young people in Podsmead, Tuffley, Matson, Robinswood, White City and Stonehouse were asked about their communities, what they liked and what could be better.

Now the responses have been pulled together for a report which will be used as a baseline for future annual surveys to track how the communities will change and benefit over the years to come thanks to community-led development supported by the Trust and funding from Gloucester Services.

The survey results will not only inform Gloucestershire Gateway Trust’s future investment and commitment of resources but also that of our partners. It has been a learning process to find out what survey methods work best and what areas we might improve on when planning how we gather people’s views next year.

From the feedback from local residents in all the communities, it is clear that: • Provision for children and young people is a common concern across our target neighbourhoods• Open access green spaces on housing estates are highly valued by local residents• Robinswood Hill is increasingly seen to be a jewel in the Gloucester City Environmental Crown and we need to encourage further nurturing of this asset• The more residents are connected with their neighbours and proactive community organisations, the more positive they feel about their lives and their communities

A common thread which emerged from all the communities was a high levels of community engagement and an interest in enhancing this even further.

Gloucestershire Gateway Trust’s commitments arising from the survey:1. Repeat this survey process annually to help us collectively assess the Trust’s impact2. Add the Redwell Centre (Together In Matson) as a new core strategic partner, which, as a result will receive £20,000 funding per annum until March 2022, in line with the six other core partners3. Investigate supporting residents and local partners in working with initiatives led by young people4. Consider supporting residents and local partners where they are working to preserve or improve open access green spaces and similar environmental assets5. Resource more social events and gatherings in 2018 which bring residents together whilst local partners develop long term strategies to sustain community ‘bumping places’ and improve neighbour-to-neighbour connections

Low-resolution pdf of the community survey report. Note: you will need Acrobat Reader to open/read the report. To make it easier for the report to be read in screen, it is presented as single pages, rather than the print version which has two-page spreads.